Griese new security blanket

Tuesday's signing could be a good deal for a snake-bit QB--and team, writes Don Pierson

March 22, 2006|By Don Pierson.

Brian Griese is a definite upgrade for the Bears. Jeff Blake won't agree, but Griese is a better veteran backup to Rex Grossman and Kyle Orton. He is more accurate and has a higher career passer efficiency rating than Blake. At 31, Griese is also four years younger.

Blake was a stopgap, a definite upgrade over Jonathan Quinn.

Griese's career passer rating and accuracy are slightly better than the numbers for Brad Johnson, the quarterback he replaced in Tampa Bay. The Bears struck out in a lukewarm attempt to add Johnson last year.

Griese is a lot better than Jay Fiedler and also four years younger than Kurt Warner, two other upgrade candidates from last off-season.

Griese doesn't have as much upside as Josh McCown, the 26-year-old who chose Detroit, or maybe Patrick Ramsey, the 27-year-old Washington traded to the New York Jets, but his numbers surpass both. Griese is four years younger and also has a better record than Gus Frerotte, who chose St. Louis.

Aaron Brooks and Joey Harrington, kicked out of New Orleans and Detroit, couldn't have accepted the role the Bears desire and Griese has outperformed both. Jeff Garcia, off to Philadelphia, is washed up. Jon Kitna, also signed by Detroit, can't stand up to Griese's record.

Griese is neither Drew Brees nor Daunte Culpepper, the top two quarterbacks to change teams this off-season. But the Bears claim they weren't looking for a starter.

Amazingly, Brian Griese's lifetime accuracy and passer efficiency and touchdown-to-interception ratio are all better than his dad's and Bob Griese is in the Hall of Fame. If Brian could throw to Paul Warfield and hand off to Larry Csonka, Jim Kiick and Mercury Morris, maybe he would win Super Bowls, too.

That's the thing about Brian Griese. Bears' general manager Jerry Angelo believes most teams these days win not so much because of their quarterbacks but because their quarterbacks can manage the people around them.

For Brian, that didn't happen in Denver, where he had the poor fortune of beginning his career as John Elway's successor. It didn't happen in his one season under coach Dave Wannstedt in Miami, where he got hurt and never could escape his dad's shadow, let alone Dan Marino's. It didn't happen in his two years in Tampa where his statistics were better than his health or the team's record as he tried to follow the Super Bowl-winning Johnson.

At Michigan, Griese had to share playing time with Scott Dreisbach.

In Chicago, Griese may have to back up Grossman and maybe even Orton, but he follows no one. This could be a break for him and for the Bears.